Monday, September 29, 2008

Saturday I was able to "dress my nest" with pretty fall-colored mums and a few pieces of junk on my front stoop. C.T. was in school all day and my oldest daughter was with her dad. So my two little ones and I packed up and had fun at a local nursery. As you can see I don't have much of a porch...maybe someday.

So I'm loading my lovely new freebie in the car with my three and five-year-old daughters in the back seat. Practically in unison I hear "TREASURE CHEST!!" being yelled at the top of their lungs. How had those two words not even come to mind when I first spotted this thing? I saw STEAMER TRUNK!!!...and my girls saw even more. They were so excited to get it home to see what was inside so I played along. Once we got there, I dragged it inside the foyer only to find the treasures must have already been taken by somebody else! Thankfully the girls weren't too disappointed and went about their day. Now I, on the other hand, knew I found my treasure.

These vintage lighting fixture freebies were an exciting find too! Removed from a 1927 home so a bit of updating could occur. Now what do I do with them? Probably the most obvious way to use them would be as centerpieces with chunky beeswax tapers fitted inside each socket, embellished with seasonal foliage or accessories. Any other ideas? I'd love additional suggestions and/or photos of what you've done with your vintage lighting fixtures and would enjoy sharing them with my readers. (Also for my own selfish reasons for my home.)

Okay...so I had to drop 15 bucks this weekend. But I think my lovely vintage mirror was well worth it! Notice I already cleared the mantle of my fall set-up from a few weeks ago so I could hang it? The mirror fits nicely inside one of the panels and it looks right at home against a few pieces of my white pottery.

Here's to droppin' less then a twenty in a week! Have a wonderful weekend and keep on junkin'!

Thursday, September 11, 2008

There is nothing like pulling together junk you've collected over time to decorate your fireplace mantel for the fall. So easy and inexpensive...and I'm all about easy and inexpensive.

My (free) balusters and candles are being held by (free) old weights from barbells that are no longer used. The little black clamps from barbells that were used to hold the weights on are the perfect fit for votives or thicker beaswax tapers.

I also used a large (free) ceiling tin and a vintage gold guild-like mirror I purchased for $4.99 at a thrift store. The most expensive glassware or apothacary jar I have in the display cost $2.99 at a discount store. And I purchased the large black mirror at 50% off at Kohl's.

I placed coffee beans in my one candle display, which is another inexpensive additive. I decided to fill the jar beside it with dry black beans and lentils that I've had in my pantry about six months. A pretty addition to an empty jar and it was pretty easy too...or so it should have been.

Unfortunately it wasn't as easy as I would have thought. My lentils went flying all over the kitchen floor as I was ever-so-gently pouring them. My three-year-old asked me "why'd you do that?"...as if I had a reason.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Oh, if only I had the means (i.e. a bulldozer and 52 dumpsters) to take advantage of this offer. While perusing my very favorite website Craigslist , I came across the deal of the century. Someone is offering all the architectural salvage these two homes can spill out as long as you remove the houses from their lots! Woohoo! What a bargain!

(Notice the corbels along the roofline!)

Imagine the bounty you would receive!

The fireplace mantels, the porch posts, the windows...oh, to have it all!!

If you are anywhere close to Medina, Ohio, you may want to check this one out!!

Saturday, September 6, 2008

After sending two of my girls off to school yesterday, my daughter and I sped off to the local thrift stores to have fun shopping by ourselves. Meg is three and enjoys playing with all the donated and castoff toys (even when they're missing all their parts).

Here are some of our finds:

Many of these items will be for resale however most are for my personal use. I can't wait to display the children's black rubber boots with red bottoms as part of my fall display on my front porch! I may even incorporate the black and white enamel refrigerator pan into it as well.

I love this jar with stainless lid! The Dave's Peanuts logo can easily be removed since it is stuck on using a clear adhesive label. I will be adding to my kitchen as a snack jar.

Know anyone that would enjoy these stainless steel napkin rings? What I find is it doesn't matter if the letter "G" has no significance to your name.

The vintage rolling pin with red handles is in excellent condition! The two pieces of white pottery will be added to my own collection and I have a project or two lined up for the stainless steamers too. I also plan on using the meat thermometer in an unconventional way and will post my photos at a later date.

I normally don't succumb to purchasing toys at a thrift store. Oftentimes pieces parts are missing from them and we have enough toys at home already. This time, however, Meg found a new pet dinosaur that I thought was adorable and she absolutely loved it. She was pleasantly surprised when we got it home to see that it actually lights up!

As you can see we found a lot of useful goodies! Can't wait to get out again.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

My love for junk started back in 1997. I was newly married with a newly purchased home, no money and had nothing to fill it with. A few blocks from my house lay a pile of "trash" from a home that had just been sold. I immediately spotted a large ugly cabinet with a red and white plastic gingham tablecloth glued to each shelf. You know what I'm talking about, the kind with the fuzzy stuff on the back. Yikes! The cabinet also had very dated, ugly glass doors on it. It was love at first sight!

Since I was driving a Nissan Sentra I knew it wasn't possible for me to take it home right that second. I grew more concerned when another car pulled up to look at my pile. Just then the homeowner came outside just in time for me to ask if the shelf was there for the taking. He was so excited to give it to me that he offered to stand next to it on the curbside while I ran home to get my husband with his Jeep just so no one else could snag it. Did I mention it was raining?

Anyway...we got it home and I bought some white paint!

This is the end result. Just a small amount of primer and white paint along with new drawer pulls. The best compliment I received was one from a friend that said it looked like a piece of furniture that cost $500!

I wanted to show a closeup of a portion of my white pottery collection. All purchased at garage and rummage sales for less than $2.50 each! My urn was $.50!!!

So maybe my fondness for junk started from necessity...but then again, maybe not. I just know I enjoy the character my junk finds bring to my home.